DIY multiple Raspberry Pi 3D scanner

Nov.12, 2013

A big issue with 3D printing is how people can make 3D objects. When you need to scan an object, you use a regular scanner, or a webcam, a laser pointer, and some free software. Instructables user the_anykey has come up with a cool pi 3D scanner, consisting of 36 Raspberry Pies + Pi Cameras and one raspberry and NAS system for control.

The idea was to connect these affordable camera combination and trigger the cameras using a "listening" script and then save the photos to the file server.

the_anykey bought 40 Raspberry Pies, and 40 PI cameras for this project. The setup consists of 12 poles which were cut out of wood on a CNC machine. On each pole there are three Raspberry Pies with the Pi Camera (5m pixel) installed. Each Raspberry is connected to the central NAS (Qnap TS109). Each network cable was custom made using 4 wires for the actual networking (100mb) and 2 wires to supply 5 volt for the raspberry from one powerful central power supply (5v 60A).

the_anykey wrote a simple python program that does the listening to a multicast and then based on that triggers the camera. As the network package reaches to each raspberry simultaneously, all 36 cameras take photos in full synchronization. The photos are then saved and copied to the file server.

Using free software, such as Autodesk's Recap and Project Memento, these photos are then converted into a 3D printable model. the_anykey has uploaded design files for pi 3D scanner on Instructables, so if you would like to make your own, check out here the detailed instructions.